The Unbearable Lightness of Trouble
by KPtheMoviesaholic
Summary: Fill for LJ Prompt. The mutants hear a suspicious scream from Alex's room. Hank decides to step in, and discovers something rather amusing.


**Disclaimer: I'll never own it...**

The sound was high pitched and piercing. Its intensity and volume alone stopped Hank in the middle of dropping chemicals into a test tube. He took off his lab glasses and glanced in the direction of the 'outside world,' areas of the mansion beyond the laboratory doors.

_Maybe he should go. Maybe one of the girls were in trouble. _

He was removing his gloves when more sounds, unmistakably screams, reached his ears. The screams were of an irregular tempo, frequent, yet alternating with pauses.

_Or maybe it was Alex. Causing the commotion._

_The guy couldn't just keep his hands to himself, could he?_

Hank gritted his teeth as he freed himself from his labcoat and half-run, half-walked to the doors, suspicions and curiosity rising within him.

_What exactly could it be that caused such disturbing shrieking sounds?_

Finally he reached the living room, located just about the 'middle' of the mansion. With Raven's help, he and the other mutants had worked out a rough floorplan of the mansion, where to meet for emergencies, secret meetings, what to call each specific room and so on. The 'living room,' (known to them by that nickname, since that was one of the many in Charles's spacious estate) was their emergency meeting place.

He found Raven, Angel, Sean, and Darwin already at the spot. The mutants were simply standing there, alarmed and unsure of what actions to be taken next.

Thankfully the sounds had died down by this point, otherwise Hank doubted they would have had a productive exchange.

"The sound!" exclaimed Raven, "Is it—?" She gasped, putting a hand to her lips. Hank shook his head, realizing she was referring to the possibility that someone—one of them—might have had an encounter with their common enemy.

"Dude," Sean piped up, "My sonar waves would have blown you guys up, so it obviously isn't me."

Not Raven, and (as he had suggested) not Sean. The possibilities left…

He turned towards Angel, who shrugged. "Sounds a bit girly to me, but why would I be standing here?"

In a way, he decided, she was right.

And Darwin merely rolled his eyes, lips mouthing, "Not me."

Hank examined the mutants' faces. Raven had her hands crossed at her chest now, looking the most worried. This was her home, after all. "Uh—it is…according to you guys, not you, so…"

He had a finger close to the edge of his lips, thinking, and suddenly he realized the absentness of an all-too-familiar mutant.

"Alex," his lips voiced out his mind's thought, as the other mutants exchanged looks in agreement. "There could be something wrong with Alex," Hank said, affirming his hypothesis. "We'd better go look."

He started running towards the blonde's room, which was located conveniently next to his (and, curse his luck, quite a distance away from the living room). The other mutants followed suit, Sean muttering under his breath, "Damn him if he managed to sneak a girl in here."

"He's dead meat if he does," Raven scowled. Angel giggled, but Hank shuddered, as if the threat, though known among them to be a joke, was directed at him.

They arrived in front of Alex's room at last. Anxious, Hank checked the doorknob and reported to the mutants crowding behind him in a weary voice, "It's locked."

Raven's eyebrow was lost in her hairline.

Darwin patted her shoulder, "Relax," he said, "It could be something else."

_But what?_ Hank's mind asked, troubled. _What?_

Sean knocked the door several times, "Hey," he called, "Hey, Alex, man! You in there? Open up! What's wrong?"

There was a groan, a muffled shout, followed seconds later by a sigh, and some thumping sounds on the bed.

Sean whistled.

The light grin tugging at Angel's lips disappeared at the stern stare Raven gave her.

Hank glanced back at the pack of mutants, the expression on his face inquiring, "What'd you want me to do next?"

Raven gave a "I-could-care-less," jerk of her chin forward. Sean and Darwin motioned at the door. Angel nodded in their direction.

"The door it is," Hank murmured, and he called again to the inside, "Alex, I'm breaking in, okay?"

A strangled voice leaked through the door. "Yeah, yeah, come in—just Hank, though."

The tone—Alex's usual adopted bad boy attitude—conflicted strangely with the helplessness implied in the sentence.

If this were any other situation, Hank was sure he would have had a good laugh.

Then again. His name.

Fuck it. Why did the bad boy had to associate his name with something he had no idea of (whatever crime he was committing in the privacy of his bedroom)?

The mutants turned from where they had their ears plastered to the door, eyes solely focused on the mutant in question.

Hank backed away a few steps, holding his hands up in front of his face and trying to remind himself mentally that he was not being arrested by his own friends, his own kind. "Guys…" he tried (unsuccessfully) to search for words to back up his truth (which at this point would appear as excuses anyhow) and came up with, "I don't know."

Raven snorted. Sean elbowed him towards the door.

"Well?" Angel asked, hands on her hips.

Hank pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. "Fine, fine," he said, "Going in right now."

And he did so (using one of the keys from the spare set kept by Raven), closing the door behind him as he stepped into the blonde's bedroom.

The sight before him was so surprising and peculiar that he did a double take and polished his glasses to ensure his flawed eyesight was not fooling him.

Alex Summers stood on his bed, shuffling his feet every now and then in a nervous gesture, fear written on his face, as he eyed a black spider crawling along the floor in disgust.

To laugh, or not to laugh. That was the question.

The situation analyzed in his mind, Hank relaxed, letting his hands fall loosely to his sides. "Alex," he said, not bothering to suppress a grin on his face, "What is this?"

Alex shot him an irritated look. "A spider, duh."

A chuckle escaped Hank. "No, seriously," he repeated, "What is _this_?"

The irony killed him. His own personal bully actually needed his assistance? Since when?

"Oh, God." Alex threw his arms in the air, in an overt act of frustration. "You really want me to—?" He interrupted himself, heaved a little sigh (which Hank found ridiculous and was about to laugh again), before continuing, "Fine. I'm scared. Ok? Just get rid of the damn spider for me."

Hank moved to where the creature was innocently making its way along the bed's boundary. "So those—those girly screams—" he couldn't resist asking, "—it was you?"

The blonde blew a stray strand of his hair off his face. "No, it was my secret girlfriend. Sneaks in here when no one's watching."

Hank raised an eyebrow.

"I trust your brains to function well enough to figure it out, Bozo," Alex added, shrugging, his trademark "Don't mess with me" expression on, "What do _you_ think?"

The scientist stepped closer to the spider, about to lean down, when another question popped up in his mind. "And why me, may I ask?"

There was an audible groan from Alex at his teasing voice. Too bad. Hank relished in rare moments such as this when he had the upper hand for once.

"You?" Alex repeated, incredulous at Hank's choice to have asked the question at that moment, "Easy. Your big foot."

Hank stifled a laugh. What crazy ideas this guy had. Anyone could have come in to dispose of the spider, even people without his mutated feet.

"So are you going to do it?" Alex said, kicking his bedsheets absentmindedly. "If not, I can let the others in and bathe in the glory of my embarrassment."

Hank smiled, "I'm sure you're just too happy to see me in here to let me go." He bent down and picked up the spider, before dropping if off the window to the soft grass of the garden outside. "There, all taken care of, sir."

Alex immediately jumped down from his bed, scanning the area. "Cleared," he said, "You could go now."

The scientist remained in his place, amused. "I don't suppose I could gather a thanks for my troubles?"

Light blue eyes met his identical ones. "If they _were_ troubling enough to you, then, thanks."

The word came out light and soft, as if the speaker was not serious about his word.

_Well, if that was all Alex had to offer, that was what he'd take._

Hank gave a brief nod, before heading to the door, readying himself to face the rest of the mutants. He thought about what he should be revealing to them and fought back internal laughter.

_Oh, _this_ was too much fun._

**A/N: :P.**

**Another secret's of Alex's. LOL.**

**More Alex/Hank one-shots coming soon!**

**Thank you's to all my lovely readers, reviewers, and anyone's who stopped by/clicked on this story, you are all precious x**

**Your ever humble fanfic writer :)**_  
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